Sealdah
General information
Location	Sealdah,Kolkata,West Bengal India
Coordinates	22°34′05″N88°22′16″E / 22.5680°N 88.3711°E /22.5680; 88.3711
Elevation	11 metres (36 ft)[1]
System	Indian Railways andKolkata Suburban Railway station
Owned by	Indian Railways
Operated by	Eastern Railway
Platforms	21
Tracks	28
Connections	Sealdah
Construction
Structure type	At grade
Parking	Available
Bicycle facilities	Available
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Status	Active
Station code	SDAH[3]
Zone(s)	Eastern Railway
Division(s)	Sealdah
History
Opened	1862; 163 years ago (1862)[2]
Electrified	1960; 65 years ago (1960)
Previous names	Eastern Bengal Railway,Assam Bengal Railway
Passengers
1.5 million+ daily[4]
Services
Preceding station Kolkata Suburban Railway Following station Terminus Eastern Line Main line Bidhannagar Road towardsNaihati Junction Chord link Line Bidhannagar Road towardsDankuni Junction Park Circus towardsBallygunge Junction Sealdah South Main line Terminus
Location

Sealdah railway station (SDAH) is an NSG–1 category Indian railway station inSealdah railway division ofEastern Railway zone.^[5] Located atSealdah in central Kolkata, it is one of the five terminal railway stations serving theKolkata metropolitan area, the others beingHowrah,Shalimar,Kolkata andSantragachi.^[6] It is the second largest and second busiest railway station inIndia andWest Bengal in terms of platforms, tracks and overall daily passenger holding capacity, making itone of the world also.

Over 1.5 million passengers use the station on a daily basis.^[7] It is an important suburban rail terminal ofKolkata Suburban Railway. Passengers can use theSealdah metro station to transfer to theGreen Line ofKolkata Metro.^{[citation needed]}

Old view of Sealdah Railway Station

The origins of Sealdah Station can be traced back to the mid-19th century when the British colonial administration initiated the construction of railways in India. The station was named after Frederick William Stevens, the then Governor-General of British India, who held the title of Lord Sealdah. Sealdah Station was officially opened to the public on 2 December 1862, as part of the Eastern Bengal Railway network from Calcutta toKushtia. At the Calcutta end there was a tin-roofed station room. Sealdah railway station had a proper Station Building in 1869,^[8][9] designed by Mr Walter Glanville. The presentSealdah-Ranaghat line was a part of the Sealdah-Kushtia line and was subsequently extended toGoalundo Ghat.

Eastern Bengal Railway Company was registered in 1857 to establish railroad connection between Calcutta and Eastern part of undivided Bengal beyond Ganges(Padma). The first section was completed in January 1862 from Calcutta to Champahati. By May 1862 this extended to Port Canning. Ranaghat was connected in September 1862. Initially, the company was known as Eastern Bengal Guaranteed Railway and ran its trains on guaranteed lines. The guaranteed lines were constructed by companies formed in England. In 1862, the station was well established with 4 platforms

The tram terminus was located at Sealdah Station before the year 1981 from where the concept of horse tram carriage started. There was a tram terminus at Sealdah station. Trams departed from here towards Rajabazar, Howrah Station, Calcutta High Court, Dalhousie Square, Park Circus andDharmatala. The first horse tram service of Kolkata was also started from Sealdah to Armenian Ghat, following the current route 14 & 16 between Lebutala & Dalhousie Square. The Sealdah–Lebutala section was closed in 1981 & Dalhousie Square–Armenian Ghat (later extended to High Court) stretchwas closed in 1995. That terminus was demolished in 1981 also with the Sealdah–Lebutala tram track stretched through Boubazar Street for construction of the Sealdah flyover. Later tram services between Rajabazar–Esplanade and Park Circus–Burrabazar and other services pass through Sealdah were completely closed in 2019 due to excuse of damaging the flyover. Currently, the rounded entrance building of Sealdah metro station exists in place of the old tram terminus.

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There are three station terminals at Sealdah: "Sealdah North", "Sealdah Main" and "Sealdah South":^{[citation needed]}

• The "North" terminal consists of platforms 1 to 5
• The "Main" terminal consists of platforms 6 to 14. One more platform is present beside platform no 14 which is used only by goods trains and high capacity parcel vans.
• The "South" terminal consists of platforms 15 to 21.

The north and south sections have a separate set of emerging tracks. The north and south sections are connected by two links: Dumdum–Majherhat link (popularly circular rail) and Bidhannagar Road–Park Circus link (extension of circular rail). These two links were constructed to quickly travel between the two sections, avoiding Sealdah.

Sealdah North acts as the suburban train terminal for the main division. The main division of Sealdah north operates trains plying between Kolkata andHasnabad,Bandel,Gede,Ranaghat,Shantipur,Krishnanagar,Berhampore,Lalgola,Dankuni,Katwa,Bardhaman,Kanchrapara,Barrackpore,Kalyani, Kalyani Simanta and others. A narrow-gauge line earlier used to connect Shantipur and Krishnanagar but now it has been replaced with broad gauge. This narrow-gauge line further continued toNabadwip Ghat and was formerly served by DMU trains^[10][11] (all other lines run EMU trains). Sealdah–Dankuni (viaVivekananda Setu) line connects Eastern Railway'sHowrah–Bardhaman chord at Bally Halt (on a viaduct atopBally station) and Dankuni. Naihati–Bandel (viaSampreeti Bridge) line connects Eastern Railway'sHowrah–Bardhaman main line atBandel Jn.

In 2016, the poorly-patronized branch line betweenDum Dum Cantonment andBiman Bandar (servingDum Dum Airport) was closed and replaced byYellow Line (under construction) of theKolkata Metro.^[12]

Sealdah Main is the mail/express terminal for long-distance trains to northern, north-western, north-eastern and eastern India, through Dankuni line and Bandel line. Krishnanagar line is also serving long distance intrastate trains.The Santragachi chord line link, between Rajchandrapur and Dankuni, serves as a transit for trains from the South Eastern Railways to access Bardhaman,Bolpur Shantiniketan, Durgapur and Sealdah. Currently, the only train from Sealdah serving the South Eastern Railway is the Puri Duronto Express

The South section, consisting of Sealdah South terminal, acts as the terminal for local trains plying between Kolkata andBudge Budge,Canning,Diamond Harbour andNamkhana. This section is used by only suburban trains.

There is also an EMU carshed at Sealdah (Narkeldanga). Other EMU carsheds are atBarasat andSonarpur. A diesel shunter loco shed is also situated at adjacent Beliaghata. An electric loco shed is situated at Sealdah also. A rail coach factory is set to come up at Halishahar-Kanchrapara (Bijpur) region in North 24 Parganas.

Before partition in 1947 of India, trains used to run up to present dayBangladesh along Gede line and Bangaon line. Now Gede line is used byMaitree Express up toDhaka and Bangaon line is used byBandhan Express up toKhulna. Both trains are indefinitely suspended due to political disturbance at Bangladesh.

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• Sealdah–Dum Dum–Baranagar–Dakshineswar–Rajchandrapur–Baltikuri–Andul–Kharagpur
• Sealdah–Dum Dum–Baranagar–Dakshineswar–Dankuni–Barddhaman
• Sealdah–Dum Dum–Naihati–Kalyani–Kalyani Simanta
• Sealdah–Dum Dum–Naihati–Kalyani–Ranaghat–Krishnanagar–Berhampore–Lalgola
• Sealdah–Dum Dum–Naihati–Kalyani–Ranaghat–Kalinarayanpur–Krishnanagar
• Sealdah–Dum Dum–Naihati–Kalyani–Ranaghat–Kalinarayanpur–Shantipur
• Krishnanagar–Dignagar–Shantipur
• Sealdah–Dum Dum–Naihati–Kalyani–Ranaghat–Gede
• Sealdah–Dum Dum–Naihati–Bandel–Barddhaman
• Sealdah–Dum Dum–Naihati–Bandel–Ambika Kalna–Nabadwip Dham–Katwa
• Sealdah–Dum Dum–Barasat–Bongaon
• Sealdah–Dum Dum–Barasat–Basirhat–Hasnabad
• Ranaghat–Majhergram–Bongaon
• Sealdah–Ballygunge–Majerhat–BBD Bag–Kolkata
• Sealdah–Ballygunge–Majerhat–Budge Budge
• Sealdah–Ballygunge–Jadavpur–New Garia–Sonarpur–Champahati–Ghutiari Sharif–Canning
• Sealdah–Ballygunge–Jadavpur–New Garia–Sonarpur–Baruipur–Magrahat–Diamond Harbour
• Sealdah–Ballygunge–Jadavpur–New Garia–Sonarpur–Baruipur–Jaynagar Majilpur–Lakshmikantapur–Kakdwip–Namkhana

The long-distance train services that originate from Sealdah, are:

• Sealdah Rajdhani Express (12313/12314)
• Sealdah-Bikaner Duronto Express (12259/12260)
• Sealdah-Puri Duronto Express (22201/22202)
• Sealdah-Jammu Tawi Humsafar Express (22317/22318)
• Sealdah-Jalpaiguri Road Humsafar Express (13115/13116)
• West Bengal Sampark Kranti Express (12329/12330)
• Jallianwalla Bagh Express (12379/12380)
• Ajmer–Sealdah Express (12987/12988)
• Kanchenjunga Express
  • Sealdah–Silchar Kanchanjungha Express (13175/13176)
  • Sealdah–Sabroom Kanchanjunga Express (13173/13174)
• Sealdah-Jangipur Road Express (13177/13178)
• Maa Tara Express (13187/13188)
• Sealdah-Ballia Express (13105/13106)
• Teesta Torsha Express (13141/13142)
• Ganga Sagar Express (13185/13186)
• Bhagirathi Express (13103/13104)
• Uttar Banga Express (13147/13148)
• Kanchan Kanya Express (13149/13150)
• Hate Bazare Express (13163/13164 - via Mansi) & (13169/13170 - via Purnea)
• Gour Express (13153/13154)
• Darjeeling Mail (12343/12344)
• Sealdah–Asansol Intercity Express (12383/12384)
• Padatik Express (12377/12378)
• Sealdah-Balurghat Express (13189/13190)

IRCTC opened the first executive lounge at this station, the first in any of the main stations in the state of West Bengal. In 2019, on the occasion ofBengali New Year, the lounge was opened. It covers around 2,500 sq ft area, and has freeWi-Fi, showers, foods, newspapers, TV, cloak room facilities available. Though on the first floor, it is next to the elevator to make it accessible to wheelchair users.^[13][14]

• The station has a first class air conditioning waiting room and a resting area with bedding facilities.
• Google provides RailWire free high-speed Wi-Fi.
• The station also has many IRCTC food court and restaurants including Haldiram, Jan-Ahaar, Mio Amore and Wow Momos.
• Amazon India has launched an Amazon kiosk in the non-ticketing zone, where passengers can pick up their parcels.
• The station has a large reservation ticketing zone where passengers can book their tickets in advance.

Sealdah metro station is an operational station onGreen Line of theKolkata Metro, located in Sealdah, Kolkata. Theunderground station adjoins with the Sealdah railway station of the Indian Railways on its eastern side. This station is situated at the place of former tram terminus.

Despite being referred to as a diesel loco shed, it currently only houses electric locomotives.

• 
  Old view of Divisional Railway Manager's Office Building
• 
  Reservation counter
• 
  General waiting room
• 
  Exterior of Sealdah station north building
• 
  General ticket counter at north building
• 
  The large shaded 'suburban train only' platform area since British era with some both side platforms
• 
  The large decorative shaded main building platform area since British era
• 
  Platform of Sealdah station
• 
  12259Sealdah–New Delhi Duronto Express – departure from platform 12 (formerly 9B)
• 
  On approach to Sealdah
• 
  Century old Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) office
• 
  Connecting shaded passage between north and south building made in early 2000's
• 
  South building is still keeping the British Era design unlike North building
• 
  Very easy, short and smooth connection between train and metro station
• 
  Unique round shaped Sealdah metro station, situated at the place of former tram terminus
• 
  Taxi stand, metro station and court is being seen from reservation counter
• 
  This flyover was opened in 1982 and replaced at-graded tram tracks on it, and finally closed tram service in 2019
• 
  Night view of the Station

• Kolkata Metro
• Kolkata
• Kolkata Suburban Railway
• List of Kolkata Suburban Railway stations
• Trams in Kolkata

• Sealdah railway station at the India Rail Info
• Eastern Railways websiteArchived 1 November 2014 at theWayback Machine

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSealdah railway station.

• Railway stations in India opened in 1869
• Indian Railway A1 Category Stations
• Kolkata Suburban Railway stations
• Railway junction stations in West Bengal
• Railway stations in Kolkata
• Sealdah railway division

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